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9 Jul 2003 : Column 864W—continued

Public Benefit Corporations

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether members of the public seeking to become members of public benefit corporations will have to (a) pay and (b) pledge to pay £1 to exercise voting rights; and if he will make a statement. [123841]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 July 2003]: The Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill requires that a person may not be a member of a public benefit corporation unless he has agreed to pay a sum not exceeding £1.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what respects public benefit corporations are mutual bodies. [123842]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 7 July 2003]: Public benefit corporations have similar characteristics to mutual bodies. These include being open to public membership; one member, one vote; the ability to appoint and remove chief officers; and a democratic process to agree the future strategy of the organisation.

TREASURY

Birth Rates

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many women under (a) 16 and (b) 20 years have given birth in each of the last 10 years in (i) the UK and (ii) Sefton. [124104]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Ms Curtis-Thomas dated 9 June 2003:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of women under (a) 16 and (b) 20 years old who gave birth in each of the last 10 years in (i) the UK and (ii) Sefton. (124104)

The information on the number of maternities is provided in the table below. Maternities are the number of women who had a birth. This differs from the number of live children born as women who had multiple births are only counted once and stillbirths are included.

9 Jul 2003 : Column 865W

Number of maternities for women aged under 16 and under 20, 1993–02.

UKMetropolitan District of Sefton
YearUnder 16Under 20Under 16Under 20
19931,56551,5036222
19941,54047,89110199
19951,71347,6715192
19961,84550,8236213
19971,82052,9058215
19981,74254,8229193
19991,68154,8976199
20001,67552,0299226
20011,60650,1423206
2002(17)1,50849,1514201

(17) provisional


Golden Shares

Mr. Challen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the Government's review of the European Court of Justice's decision on golden shares to be completed. [124152]

Mr. Boateng: The Government holds special shares in 25 companies. Each Department responsible for individual special shares is examining the ECJ's judgments carefully, to ensure that its special shares comply with EC law and continue to be in the public interest. The outcome will depend on the detail of each individual special share.

Head Injuries

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Sefton died from a head injury in the past 10 years. [124103]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mrs. Curtis-Thomas, dated 9 July 2003:




Number of deaths from head injuries(18) 1993 to 2002(19)

Calendar yearEngland and WalesSefton(20)
19932,87413
19942,76410
19952,76418
19962,81814
19972,93927
19982,81611
19992,88220
20003,01517
2001(21)1,80614
2002(21)1,8018

(18) Head injuries were defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (1CD-9) codes N800 to N804 and N850 to N854 for the years 1993 to 2000 and, for the years 2001 and 2002, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (1CD-10) codes S02 and S06.

(19) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

(20) Deaths of usual residents of Sefton local authority.

(21) The introduction of 1CD-10 for coding cause of death in 2001 means that data for head injuries in this year and 2002 are not comparable with data for earlier years. The interpretation of international coding rules in ICD-10, compared with the rules used in 1CD-9, has led to an apparent decrease of 40 per cent. in the number deaths coded to head injuries. The figures should therefore be interpreted with caution. The effect of the major changes to mortality statistics in ICD-10 compared with 1CD-9 were described in a report published in May 2002.

(22)

(23) Office for National Statistics. Results of the ICD-10 bridge coding study, England and Wales, 1999. "Health Statistics Quarterly" 14 (2002), 75–83.


9 Jul 2003 : Column 866W

Unemployment

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the unemployment rate was in each year from 1997 to 2003 in (a) England and (b) Sefton. [124206]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Ms Claire Curtis-Thomas, dated 9 July 2003:



Unemployment rates(24)England and Sefton
Percentage

March to FebruaryEngland(25)Sefton(26)
1997–986.67.8
1998–996.07.6
1999–20005.77.8
2000–015.16.0
2001–024.85.0
2002–035.06.0

(24) Unemployed as a percentage of the economically active population.

(25) Estimates have been interim-adjusted to reflect the 2001 Census results.

(26) Estimates have not been adjusted to reflect the 2001 Census results.

– Date not available.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey


Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the unemployment rate was in Merseyside for (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002 and (d) 2003 to date. [124202]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mrs. Curtis-Thomas dated, 9 July 2003:


9 Jul 2003 : Column 867W


Unemployment rates1 in Merseyside—March to February

Per cent.
2000–018.2
2001–027.2
2002–036.9

(27) Unemployed as a percentage of the economically active population.

Note:

These Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates have not yet been adjusted to take account of the Census 2001 results.

Source:

Labour Force Survey (ONS)


Benefit Claimants

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of eligible individuals who have failed to apply for the (a) minimum income guarantee and (b) child tax credit in the Truro and St Austell constituency. [124445]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the numbers of families eligible for the minimum income guarantee and the Child Tax Credit are not available at constituency level.


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